drinktec 2017

Recycling thermal energy during the brewing process

The key to energy-efficient brewing

Achieving sustainability in the brewing process is a huge task. We all wish to treat the available resources as sensibly as possible while aiming to brew high-quality beers. So just how can we create the conditions needed in the brewhouse to meet both requirements?

With energy costs rising, each process stage must be examined closely to discover ways of improving its energy efficiency and thus guarantee that the brewery is operated efficiently. The thermal energy reserves provided by the hot wort in particular offer a huge potential for improving the brewhouse’s energy efficency. The solution is clear: why not use the heat reserves offered by the hot wort for other processes in the brewhouse?

Krones decided to do precisely this and, with the EquiTherm, developed the key to a trend-setting brewing process. EquiTherm combines the heat requirement during mashing with the excess heat recovered during wort cooling, thus ensuring an efficient use of energy in the brewhouse and a considerably lower primary energy requirement.